Automatic machines for shaping foodstuffs such as corncakes and the like

ABSTRACT

The invention pertains to an automatic machine for forming articles from materials of doughlike consistency. The machine has a rotatable forming roller with radial cavities which rotates so as to carry the cavities past the discharge opening of a hopper in which the doughlike material is contained. The doughlike material fills the cavities and excess material is stripped from the roll so that the cavities are always precisely filled without leaving any excess dough. The cavities have movable bottoms which are pushed outwardly to eject the articles from the forming roll and are then pushed inwardly so the cavities can receive a fresh charge.

United States atet Inventor Fausto C. Mendoza Cumbris de Acultzingo N 185 Lomas de Chapuetipic. Mexico City, Mexico Appl. No. 845,171 Filed July 28, 1969 Patented Aug. 31, 1971 Priority Jan. 9, 1969 Mexico 108252 AUTOMATIC MACHINES FOR SHAPING FOODSTUF F S SUCH AS CORNCAKES AND THE LIKE 9 Claims, 7 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 107/8 D, 25/75, 107/15 AF Int. Cl A21c 5/04, B28b 5/10 Field of Search 107/8 D, 8 FA, 15 AD, 15 AE,15 AF.3,19,14B,8 DA; 25/78, 75

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,018,640 2/1912 Storme l0' /8 DA 2,688,940 9/1954 Zeun 107/8 FA 2,815,573 12/1957 Trelease 25/75 X 2,942,305 6/1960 Hollingsworth 19/106 A Primary Examiner- Price C. Faw, Jr. Attorneyleffers and Rickert ABSTRACT: The invention pertains to an automatic machine for forming articles from materials of doughlike consistency. The machine has a rotatable forming roller with radial cavities which rotates so as to carry the cavities past the discharge opening of a hopper in which the doughlike material is contained. The doughlike material fills the cavities and excess material is stripped from the roll so that the cavities are always precisely filled without leaving any excess dough. The cavities have movable bottoms which are pushed outwardly to eject the articles from the forming roll and are then pushed inwardly so the cavities can receive a fresh charge.

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ATTORNEYS AUTOMATIC MACHINES FOR SHAPING FOODSTUFFS SUCH AS CORNCAKES AND THE LIKE The present invention relates to a machine for automatically shaping materials of doughlike consistency into certain forms, particularly into the form of food stuffs such as corn cakes, cookies, candies, pastries, and the like.

One of the principal problems encountered is shaping machines of the nature referred to in the prior art was the poor efiiciency of the machines due to the necessary low speed of operation. Further, the use of such machines has been heretofore almost exclusively limited to the production of cakes made of dough containing corn meal whereby the owner of the machine was restricted with regard to the product that could be made on the machine.

Automatic corn cake making machines are known wherein the dough is formed into a sheet or strip, then passed between rollers to determine the thickness thereof more or less precisely, with the sheet or strip of dough then being cut or stamped out by means of circular dies. Other devices have also been employed for shaping the product.

In any machine of the type in which the product is stamped out from a sheet, however, there is considerable material left in the strip after the cut out pieces are removed therefrom. Such residue can represent a serious problem for the machine operator because certain types of doughlike materials cannot again be processed and must be discarded. This is particularly the case with certain types of pastry doughs because the further kneading necessary to reprocess the dough adversely effects the flavor and texture of the end product. As a result of the foregoing considerations, rather poor utilization of machines according to the prior art has resulted.

With the foregoing in mind, a primary object of the present an automatic machine of the nature referred to in which the articles formed by the machine are ejected to a conveyor and conveyed away from the place of forming so that the machine can operate continuously.

The exact nature of the present invention will become more apparent upon reference to the following detailed specification taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. I is a side elevational view of a machine according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view looking down on top of the machine; the shaping FIG. 3 is a view looking in from the right side of FIG. 1 with the dough hopper removed from the machine to expose the shaping roll or cylinder;

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view drawn at somewhat enlarged scale and generally indicated by line IVVI on FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a view showing the cylinder portion of the shaping roll of the machine;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view generally indicated by line VI-VI on FIG. 4; and

FIG. 7 is a view looking up from the bottom of FIG. 6.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION A machine according to the present invention comprises, in general, a feeding hopper, a rotatable shaping head, in the form of a roll, or cylinder, which has a surface traveling past a lower portion of the hopper, and a conveyor beneath the shaping head or roll, for conveying shaped articles away from the shaping roll.

The shaping roll has cavities therein which receive doughlike material from the hopper and a series of rollers running on and adjacent the surface of the shaping roll after it leaves the hopper to press the doughlike material into the cavities so as completely to fill the cavities. Levelling and stripping knives strip off any excess material in the cavities and from the shaping roll and rollers and assist in ejection of the shaped articles from the cavities.

The cavities inthe shaping roll are provided with movable bottoms which are actuated by a cam inside the shaping roll on the axis thereof and operable to push the bottoms radially outwardly when the cavities approach the bottom of the shaping roll and are thereby positioned over the aforementioned conveyor.

After the cavities have moved away from the lower portion of the shaping roll and are again approaching the hopper, the cavity bottoms are again pressed inwardly to a predetermined radially inner position in the respective cavities.

A stripping knife is preferable provided for stripping the articles from the cavity bottoms after the cavity bottoms have been pushed radially outwardly so as to be about flush with the surface of the forming roll. The stripping knife, as well as the aforementioned levelling knives, may be of the vibratory type, if so desired.

The shaping roll or drum, and the rollers which cooperate therewith to press the doughlike material into the cavities of the shaping roll, are motor driven and the aforementioned conveyor is also motor driven so that the machine, once set into operation, will continue to run as long as dough is supplied to the hopper,

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring now to the drawings somewhat more in detail, the machine according to the present invention comprises a main frame F which has upstanding therefrom a pair of laterally spaced sidewalls W between which is located a cylinder 1 of substantial diameter and which forms the shaping roll or drum according to the present invention. The shaping roll on cylinder 1 is provided with radial cavities, to be described more in detail hereafter, into which dough is transferred from hopper 12 as shaping roll 1 turns in a clockwise direction as it is viewed in FIG. 1.

A pair of spaced side plates 2 and 3 are provided, mounted in the machine frame and supporting a series of rollers 4, 4' and 4''. Advantageously, plates 2 and 3 are adjustable radially of roll 1, as by means of adjusting screws 2' and 2", to bring the rollers 4' and 4 into proper relation to forming roll 1.

As will be seen in FIG. 4, the three rolls 4, 4' and 4" have their centers arranged in a triangle and confine a space adjacent the forming roll from which the doughlike material cannot escape. An upper knife 6 in the space confined by the said rollers maintains the roller 4" free of any accumulated doughlike material while the lower knife at 5, situated beneath lower roller 4, removes any of the doughlike material which adheres to the surface of the forming roll and also make certain that only a predetermined amount of the doughlike material is contained in each cavity of the forming roll.

With respect to the said cavities of the forming roll, FIG. 4 will show that there are plurality of cavities 8 extending radially into the forming roll and distributed circumferentially thereof with each cavity 8 being provided with a movable bottom 9.

Each movable bottom 9 on its radially inner side carries a roller 9a. The forming roll 1 is rotatably mounted on a stationary nonrotatable central shaft 11 which is supported by the side walls W. Inside forming roll 1 on shaft 11 is fixed a plate 10 and carried on plate 10 in an adjustable manner is a cam element 10a. As will be seen in FIG. 4, as the forming roll rotates, when the cavities therein move toward the bottom of the forming roll, the rollers 9a for the cavity bottoms will engage cam 10a and cause the bottoms to be moved radially outwardly to a position where they are substantially flush with the outer peripheral surface of the forming roll. When the cavities of the forming roll approach the top of the forming roll and before entering the hopper 12, a resilient rubberlike pressure roller 13 mounted on a shaft 21 presses the bottoms inwardly to their radially inward position in the forming roll.

As will be seen in FIGS. 6 and 7, the bottoms 9 for the cavities 8 have laterally projecting flanges 9b thereon and threaded through the flanges are stop screws 9c which will limit the radially outward movement of the bottoms when pushed outwardly by cam member 10a. Further, brackets 9d are mounted inside the forming roll and carry screws 14 which abut the flanges 9b and limit the radially inward movement of bottoms 9 when pressed inwardly by resilient roller 13.

The rollers 4, 4' and 4" previously referred to are provided with respective drive sprockets l5, l6 and 17 at their one ends. The drive sprocket for roller 4 is engaged by a chain 18 which passes over another sprocket fixed to a shaft 18a which carries another sprocket 1812 connected by a chain 18c with a sprocket 18d on the output shaft of a speed reducing transmission l8e, the input shaft of which is connected by a belt 18f with an electric drive motor 183.

Shaft 18a carries a still further sprocket which drives a chain 18/: entrained over a sprocket fixed to a shaft 181', which is one of the support shafts for the conveyor C which receives the shaped articles ejected from the forming roller.

Returning to the rollers 4, 4' and 4", on the opposite end of shaft 180 from sprocket 18b, there is mounted a further sprocket 18k connected by a chain 19 with a sprocket 20 fixed to the shaft of roller 4" at the end thereof opposite the aforementioned sprocket 17. The drive to roller 4 causes it to rotate in a direction opposite to the forming roll 1 and, due to the connection between rollers 4 and 4", roller 4" also rotates in a direction opposite to that of forming roll 1. The drive connection to roll 4 causes it also to rotate in the same direction as rollers 4 and 4".

AS to forming roll 1, it is provided with a sprocket 26 over which is entrained a drive chain that passes about a sprocket 24 on the output shaft of a speed reducing transmission driven by belt 23a which is driven by an electric motor 23b.

As will best be seen in FIG. 1, knife 6 is mounted on a shaft which at one end has an arm 6a biased by a spring 6b in a direction to press knife 6 toward the surface of forming roll 1. Similarly, knife 5 is mounted on a shaft which has connected thereto an arm 50 that is acted on by a spring 5b in such a manner as to press knife 5 toward the surface of forming roll 1.

Still further, knife 7 is mounted on a shaft provided with an arm 70 acted on by a spring 7b so that knife 7 is also pressed toward the surface of the forming roll. As mentioned previously, any, or all, of the said knives could be arranged to be vibrated, for example, in the longitudinal direction to assist the knives in performing their designated function.

As will be seen from the foregoing, the machine according to the present invention operates completely automatically and provides for the exact and equal filling of all of the cavities of the forming roll without any waste of dough while the forming roll itself includes means for maintaining the size of the cavities at the desired amount so that the product which is produced automatically, continuously and relatively rapidly is of a uniform nature.

What is claimed is:

1; A machine for automatically shaping doughlike material into articles and comprising; a frame, a shaping roll rotatable on a horizontal axis in said frame and comprising a plurality of circumferentially distributed radially directed cavities, a hopper in said frame having a discharge opening to the periphery of said shaping roll at an upper region of said roll, each said cavity of the shaping roll having a bottom closure member reciprocable in the cavity between a predetermined radially inner position and a radially outer position wherein the surface of said bottom closure member is substantially flush with the surface of said shaping roll, a shaft fixed in said frame and extending axially through said shaping roll and having cam means thereon operable to actuate said bottom closure members to their radially outer positions asthe respective cavities approach a lower region 0 said shaping roll, roller means adjacent the surface of said shaping roll and adjustably positioned on the side of said hopper where the surface of the shaping roll is moving away from the hopper and operable for confining the doughlike material to the said cavities, first knife means adjacent the shaping roll for stripping excess dough adhering to said roll and roller means and second knife means adjacent the periphery of said shaping roll adapted for stripping articles from said bottom closure members after the latter have been actuated to their radially outer positions.

2. A machine according to claim 1 which includes conveyor means in the frame running beneath said shaping roll and adapted for receiving the articles ejected from the shaping roll.

3. A machine according to claim 2 which includes drive means drivingly connected to said shaping roll and to said roller means and causing said roller means to rotate in a direction opposite to that of said shaping roll.

4. A machine according to claim 3 which includes resilient means bearing on the periphery of said shaping roll in the region thereof where the surface of the shaping roll approaches said hopper and operable for pressing said bottom closure members to their radially inner positions.

5. A machine according to claim 4 which includes elements of adjustable stop means connected to said bottom closure members and said shaping roll and predetermining both the radially inner and radially outer positions of said bottom closure members.

6. A machine according to claim 5 in which said cam means comprises a cam element mounted on said shaft and adjustable thereon in the radial direction.

7. A machine according to claim 2 which includes electric motor means in said frame, speed reducing transmission means driven by said electric motor means, and chain and sprocket means connecting said speed reducing transmission means with said shaping roll and with said roller means.

8. A machine according to claim 7 in which said roller means includes a first upper roller engaging the periphery of said shaping roll where the surface of the shaping roll leaves said hopper, a second lower roller engaging the surface of said shaping drum at a region thereof spaced from said first roller in the direction of movement of the surface of said shaping roll and a third roller radially spaced from said shaping drum and disposed between and closely adjacent both of said first and second rollers.

9. A machine according to claim 8 in which said transmission means includes a first transmission connected to said shaping drum and a second transmission connected to one of said rollers, the others of said rollers being drivingly interconnected and drivingly connected to said one roller. 

1. A machine for automatically shaping doughlike material into articles and comprising; a frame, a shaping roll rotatable on a horizontal axis in said frame and comprising a plurality of circumferentially distributed radially directed cavities, a hopper in said frame having a discharge opening to the periphery of said shaping roll at an upper region of said roll, each said cavity of the shaping roll having a bottom closure member reciprocable in the cavity between a predetermined radially inner position and a radially outer position wherein the surface of said bottom closure member is substantially flush with the surface of said shaping roll, a shaft fixed in said frame and extending axially through said shaping roll and having cam means thereon operable to actuate said bottom closure members to their radially outer positions as the respective cavities approach a lower region of said shaping roll, roller means adjacent the surface of said shaping roll and adjustably positioned on the side of said hopper where the surface of the shaping roll is moving away from the hopper and operable for confining the doughlike material to the said cavities, first knife means adjacent the shaping roll for stripping excess dough adhering to said roll and roller means and second knife means adjacent the periphery of said shaping roll adapted for stripping articles from said bottom closure members after the latter have been actuated to their radially outer positions.
 2. A machine according to claim 1 which includes conveyor means in the frame running beneath said shaping roll and adapted for receiving the articles ejected from the shaping roll.
 3. A machine according to claim 2 which includes drive means drivingly connected to said shaping roll and to said roller means and causing said roller means to rotate in a direction opposite to that of said shaping roll.
 4. A machine according to claim 3 which includes resilient means bearing on the periphery of said shaping roll in the region thereof where the surface of the shaping roll approaches said hopper and operable for pressing said bottom closure members to their radially inner positions.
 5. A machine according to claim 4 which includes elements of adjustable stop means connected to said bottom closure members and said shaping roll and predetermining both the radially inner and radially outer positions of said bottom closure members.
 6. A machine according to claim 5 in which said cam means comprises a cam element mounted on said shaft and adjustable thereon in the radial direction.
 7. A machine according to claim 2 which includes electric motor means in said frame, speed reducing transmission means driven by said electric motor means, and chain and sprocket means connecting said speed reducing transmission means with said shaping roll and with said roller means.
 8. A machine according to claim 7 in which said roller means includes a first upper roller engaging the periphery of said shaping roll where the surface of the shaping roll leaves said hopper, a second lower roller engaging the surface of said shaping drum at a region thereof spaced from said first roller in the direction of movement of the surface of said shaping roll and a third roller radially spaced from said shaping drum and disposed between and closely adjacent both of said fiRst and second rollers.
 9. A machine according to claim 8 in which said transmission means includes a first transmission connected to said shaping drum and a second transmission connected to one of said rollers, the others of said rollers being drivingly interconnected and drivingly connected to said one roller. 